1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of material handling equipment, and more particularly but not by way of limitation, to a slip sheet removal apparatus incorporated in a conveyor system for removing dunnage sheets disposed under paperboard blank stacks.
2. Discussion
The packaging of products in paperboard containers or boxes has increased over the years so that a very large packing industry has emerged. It is common to cut paperboard container blanks from sheets of corrugated composition via rotating dies that operate at very great linear speeds. The blanks are removed of excess trim, stacked flat in bundles and conveyed on a conveyor system made up of a plurality of chain-driven conveyor rollers. To protect the paperboard blanks at the bottom of the stack it is common in the industry to place the paperboard blank stack on top of an individual dunnage sheet, sometimes also referred to as a slip sheet.
Heretofore there has been no conveyor system having the necessary apparatus to automatically remove the dunnage sheet at the end of a conveyor system so that the dunnage sheet can be stored and reused as necessary. Therefore, when the stack is removed from the conveyor the dunnage sheet is quite often soiled or damaged and therefore discarded. Because there has not been a device for automatically storing and recycling dunnage sheets, no care consideration has been given in using a higher grade of dunnage sheet material that can be used time and time again. Also, the bottom of the stack often serves as a dunnage sheet and a number of bottom paperboard blanks are damaged, thereby causing unnecessary waste.
The present slip sheet removal conveyor solves the above mentioned problems related to the use of dunnage sheet or the lack thereof with additional advantages which are described herein for ease in handling of paperboard blanks and the like.